Till Death Do Us Part
by Rule23
Summary: Things after the Golden Trio's escape from Malfoy Manor take a different route.


**Disclaimer**_**: **_Anything you recognise belongs to the incomparable J. K. Rowling. No money is being made from this. Some lines of dialogue are taken directly from DH.

**Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition – Season Seven – Round Ten**

**Beater 2 for the Tutshill Tornados**

**Round Ten: Kill Them Or Save Them**

Below you will find eight characters. Half died during the war, and the other half survived. For this round, you will choose a character and reverse their fate. So, if a character died in canon, you will write a story where they survive the war. If they lived, you will write about their death during the war. Whether you focus on the moment that changed whether they lived or died, or you show the impact, the aftermath of their fate through someone else's eyes, or whatever is entirely up to you.

**Note**: Each character can only be chosen once per team. No double claims among teammates. (So the captain and Beater can't both write about Colin living)

**Kill Them**: Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, Lucius Malfoy, Neville Longbottom

**Save Them**: Colin Creevey, Amelia Bones, Regulus Black, Bellatrix Lestrange

**BEATER 2**: **Killing Lucius Malfoy**

**Additional Prompts:**

(dialogue) "Have you been crying?"

(quote) "Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything." C.S. Lewis

(object) hourglass

**Thanks to the Tutshill Tornados for betaing!**

**Warning: Character deaths**

* * *

Till Death Do Us Part

Words: 2077

* * *

_"Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything."_ ~ C.S. Lewis

* * *

"_Go and fetch Snape."_

"_Snape, m- my Lord?" Lucius asked, worry hitching the words in his throat._

"_Snape. Now. I need him. There is a—service—I require of him. Go."_

_Lucius left the Dark Lord behind him, stumbling as he left the Shrieking Shack. He had to find Severus._

* * *

ONE MONTH EARLIER

Bellatrix hurled her dagger at the elf just as he disappeared with Potter. Lucius tried to stand, wishing for his old cane, but slumped to the floor in defeat. Shards of crystal, cruel and sharp, studded his robes, pinning the bloody fabric to his legs.

"Draco?" Narcissa's voice was strained and high. "Draco?"

"I'm fine, Mother." Draco struggled to his feet to help Narcissa up from beneath the fallen chandelier.

Bellatrix was pacing backwards and forwards across the width of the room, a Crup in a cage.

"Father? Mother needs healing." Lucius heard the worry his son was trying to conceal.

He shuffled himself closer to the wall and grasped the waist-level moulding. Thank Merlin for ostentatious ancestors. He pulled himself upwards, leg burning with complaint but determined to see to his wife. The room swam as he set his damaged leg on the floor and tested it against his weight. He'd fallen from the back of an Abraxan as a child and shattered every bone in his leg. The memory of that pain was a mere scrape to how he was feeling now. He clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and took a shuddering step towards his wife. His Narcissa.

And then Draco was there, his arm around Lucius's waist. He leant on his son, relying on Draco's strength when his own failed him. Bellatrix was completely ineffectual, pacing and muttering to herself, pulling at her hair.

Lucius collapsed on the floor next to his wife and pulled her head into his lap.

"Where?"

She lifted a once-delicate hand, the nails now ragged with worry, and waved it over her left side. He pulled her robes apart and gasped at the brownish-purple stain that spread over her ribs. The Time-Turner, a Black family heirloom, hung around her neck, it's hourglass cracked and venting sand.

"_Accio healing potions_." His voice shook as he gasped out the spell. He waited, listening for the tell-tale whoosh of the potions rushing through the air, but it never came.

Bellatrix's cackle rent the air. "You don't have a wand, Lucy-Lu."

She was right. He'd been relieved of the crutch that was his borrowed wand in the scuffle.

"You don't have a wand, I don't have a wand, Draco doesn't have a wand." She pointed at each of them in turn, a disturbing rendition of Eeny-Meeny-Miny-Moe. "Cissy hasn't had a wand in months."

As she said her sister's name, her eyes were pulled to Narcissa's position on the floor. "Cissy?" She hurried towards her sister and knelt next to her, grasping her hand.

Lucius needed help. "Tufty?" It came out as a question rather than a demand. A small house-elf, skin and bones beneath his Malfoy tea towel, appeared with a crack before them. "Fetch me the healing potions." The elf bowed and disappeared.

Unsure what to do until the potions arrived, Lucius stroked his wife's hair and wanted to whisper that everything would be okay.

* * *

Narcissa was sitting up when the Dark Lord arrived, swirling into the room like a thunderstorm.

"Well?"

Red eyes glared at each of them in turn and took in the wreckage of the room.

"Bellatrix. Come to me."

For the briefest moment, Bellatrix didn't move. Her hand tightened around Narcissa's before she stumbled to her feet, pulled as though by a Summoning Charm to her lord. He tilted her chin upwards with one pale finger and met her eyes. Lucius knew she would hold nothing back from him, would allow him every detail of their circus of an evening.

"You disappoint me."

Bellatrix fell to her knees, gasping in pain as if he'd slapped her.

"_Crucio_." The cold fury in his voice was tight and controlled. Deadly.

Bellatrix spasmed beneath his spell but accepted her punishment in silence until the curse was lifted.

"It seems my usual punishment is no longer effective." He hissed the last word, dragging it out. "More imagination is in order."

His wand pointed to Narcissa, half-slumped against Lucius. Bellatrix twitched and Lucius felt himself do the same.

"Please," he said. "Please, punish me. She had nothing to do with this. The fault is not hers. Punish me."

"Do you presume to demand anything of me, Lucius?" the Dark Lord asked, his tone now casual, almost playful. It set Lucius's teeth on edge.

"N-No, my Lord. I would never."

"Then stand aside."

Lucius looked to his wife, meeting Narcissa's steady gaze. She looked more determined than he'd seen her since birthing Draco. He helped her sit properly upright and moved to stand by Bellatrix, pulling his sister-in-law to unsteady feet.

"_Crucio_."

Narcissa's screams echoed through the room.

By the time the Dark Lord was satisfied, tears slid silently down three sets of cheeks and Narcissa could cry no more.

* * *

Lucius sat in his study and stared at the shattered Time-Turner in his hand without really seeing it.

They weren't allowed to hold a funeral, no memorial. No closure. Few people were trusted with the truth of Narcissa's death—it wouldn't do for the Dark Lord's followers to fear for their spouses' lives as well as their own. A little fear was good, but too much fear was dangerous.

A knock sounded. Lucius didn't want to see anyone, so ignored it. The door opened anyway and Severus swept into the room, his robes flourishing in that ridiculous manner of his. Lucius wondered if he enchanted them to do so.

Severus slumped into his customary armchair, the one closest to the fire, and stared at Lucius. Lucius stared back, unsure of how to proceed. They'd always been close, but with times as they were it was difficult to know just how far one could rely on the bonds of friendship.

Severus looked like Lucius felt—utterly knackered. His eyes were bloodshot, his cheeks dark with stubble, and his hair lanker than ever.

"Have you been crying?" Lucius asked.

Severus dropped his eyes to the Persian rug and shifted. "She was my friend."

Lucius should have known that Severus would have been told of her death. He should have sought out his friend sooner.

"How have—" Severus scowled as the ridiculous question came to his tongue. "If you need to talk, I'm here."

The words spilt from Lucius's lips. "Draco won't leave his room. Bella is madder than ever—she blames herself and me for her… for what happened. I can't bear to be in our bedroom, any of the house really. I feel her absence everywhere. Less so in here. She always refused to come in here."

"On the grounds of the cigar stench." Severus grinned. "She used to get so angry when we forgot to close the door."

Lucius chuckled before reality came crashing back, bringing tears with it.

"What if this war takes Draco, too?" The question was quiet and unsure.

Severus didn't say anything for a moment, the furrow between his brow deepening. He produced his wand from somewhere beneath his voluminous robes. "_Muffliato_."

"What—"

"I could hide him. No one would find him. He would be safe."

Lucius fell from his chair to his knees, clutching at his friend's robes with one hand and the Time-Turner with the other.

He would be safe. Her child would be safe.

* * *

"Your magic is stronger than ever, my Lord." Lucius knelt before the Dark Lord, head bowed and his eyes tracing the Dark Lord's agitated steps as he paced back and forth.

"Lies! I am merely as great as I've always been." The Elder Wand pointed at Lucius's chest. "_Crucio_."

Lucius sank to the floor, letting the pain wash over him. It was nothing compared to the pain radiating from the gaping hole inside his chest. The hole where Narcissa had once lived.

* * *

He awoke with a start, his neck sore from sleeping slumped over his desk and the Time-Turner cupped in one hand. Realisation had interrupted his dreams, the Dark Lord's words echoing in his head: _I am merely as great as I've always been_.

He pulled the spine of _Madam Mandeville's Guide to Household Charms _downwards and his bookshelf swung open, revealing the real Malfoy library. Within, hidden in its darkest depths, were ways to protect against death.

He had work to do.

* * *

He found Severus at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, a gash bisecting his cheek and powdered glass in his hair.

"The Dark Lord wishes to see you," Lucius said.

"It was only a matter of time." Severus looked resigned to his fate.

"He thinks his wand is loyal to you."

"How did you—"

"But I can change his mind."

Severus's eyebrows furrowed. "How?"

Instead of answering, Lucius pulled a crystal vial from his pocket and uncorked it.

"What are you doing?" Severus asked.

With a well-practised flick of his wrist, Lucius tossed the contents of the vial at Severus, dousing his face.

"_Avada Kedavra_."

His friend fell to the floor, his face as still as death. He couldn't bring himself to check if the potion had worked. He simply crossed his fingers and clutched at the Time-Turner, hoping for the best.

* * *

"I asked you to bring Severus to me," the Dark Lord said, his voice icy. "I see you have failed me once more."

Lucius dropped to his knees. "I found him, my Lord; he was helping the Potter brat and killing my fellow Death Eaters. I killed him."

"You did what?"

"I killed the traitor." Lucius clutched at the broken Time-Turner beneath his robes and stared straight into the Dark Lord's unnatural eyes.

He thought about the moment he said those fatal words and let the Dark Lord see his once-trusted servant die.

"Well, Lucius, by sealing his fate, you have sealed your own."

The Dark Lord slashed at the air, releasing Nagini from her cage of enchantment. He hissed at her in words Lucius couldn't understand.

The snake lunged and Lucius knew only pain and blood and the Time-Turner clasped tightly in his hand.

For a moment, his world was comprised of nothingness.

And then she was there, welcoming him home.

* * *

When Severus awoke, confused and alone in the Forbidden Forest, the Dark Lord's voice swam around him in the darkness. _This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour._

The cold voice hung in the air, distorted by the trees.

Severus got to his feet. He had one hour to find Harry Potter. One hour to find him and push back the veil Albus Dumbledore had draped over the truth.

* * *

THE END


End file.
